'The source of much evil': Baptist minister warns against MAGA’s 'weaponization of Christianity'

16 December 2024

The religious right has had a major influence on the Republic Party since the early 1980s, when the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr.'s Moral Majority and the Christian Broadcasting Network's Rev. Pat Robertson aggressively lobbied for President Ronald Reagan to push a socially conservative agenda. Now, in late 2024, far-right white evangelicals and Christian nationalists are anxiously awaiting President-elect Donald Trump's return the White House.

But Christian nationalists don't represent Christianity on the whole. In fact, some Christians who aren't shy about discussing their faith — from Catholics like outgoing President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia), a Baptist minister — have been scathing critics of Trump and the MAGA movement.

During a Q&A interview with Salon's Chauncey DeVega published on December 16, the Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush — a Baptist minister and major Trump critic who serves as CEO of the Interfaith Alliance — argued that religion can play a prominent role in the anti-Trump, anti-MAGA resistance.

Raushenbush, who is openly gay, told DeVega, "Ultimately, as a society, we're in a fraught moment where it's unclear what will happen with Trump taking power…. Trump and the rise of illiberalism, intolerance and all that goes with it, have created a permission structure for cruelty on a massive scale. Of course, this involves overturning civil rights laws that protect marginalized groups. But there is also the day-to-day fear of being targeted for just trying to live and doing basic human things like holding your partner's hand in public."

The minister added, "I live in a part of country where there is supposed to be all this tolerance and safety for gay people — yet all it takes is one second for something bad to suddenly happen."

Raushenbush lamented that "many of my fellow Christians" are supporting "Trump and his authoritarian populist movement." And he stressed that non-MAGA Christians need to voice their opposition.

"There is a long tradition of people using my faith to terrorize others," Raushenbush told DeVega. "So, one of the things I do as a minister and as a leader of an interfaith organization is to try to make it clear in my talks and other work that religion is not automatically or necessarily good. Religion has been the source of much evil, which we can chronicle throughout our history. In America, we're in a moment where religion is again being used as a pretext for subjugation and discrimination."

Raushenbush continued, "White Christianity, especially white right-wing Christian fundamentalism, is such a deep and important current within the MAGA movement and today's 'conservatives' that I think even many people who are working in mainstream politics don't really understand what's happening. This weaponization of Christianity is very dangerous to the country and our freedoms."

Salon's full interview with Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is available at this link.

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